The beginning of season two - Leaving Cairns

The day before we left Bluewater Marina, our neighbouring boat Green Thomcat left and we used the opportunity to turn Pegasos around in the double berth to face outwards. High tide was at a civilised hour of 9.20am so we didn't have to wake up early to get the boat over the sandbar at Yorkey's Knob. On 1st May we exited our berth smoothly and floated down the creek and out to sea.

The difference in wind from our sheltered marina to the open sea was immediately felt as we headed south against the wind to Mission Bay. The idea is to use the familiar area off Cairns to see how our new AIS, radar, new engine water pump, the hot water cylinder, etc. was performing after being installed. And most importantly, to put the new water maker into action.

We were delighted to be moving on Pegasos again and our spirits were not too dampened by the rather unkind weather. We were motoring against wind that gusted up to 32 knots and as we crossed the Cairns shipping channel a strong squall of rain came down, blown in by the facing wind and drenched the cockpit. It was a slow and bumpy 3 hour trip to Mission Bay.

We anchored as close as possible in the lee of Cape Grafton hills for wind protection and the sun came out. We closed up the covers and were delighted to find the hot water was very hot for our shower. Yay, that worked! The water pump, AIS and radar worked very well too so we toasted our small successes with a G&T. During the night the wind gusted strongly and rain hammered down on the boat, but we slept like logs.

The next morning we set off for Fitzroy Island, one of our favourite islands. Last September we spent 5 days at Fitzroy Island and had a lot of fun snorkeling, swimming with a turtle and hiking. Once again it was bumpy motoring into a strong wind and choppy swells, thankfully just short of 2 hours. The stick with the scanner sensor attached broke off but was still held on by the cable. The last time we were at Fitzroy Island the bay was full of yachts, this time there was only one other boat so we had our pick of mooring buoys.

Robert had a go at getting the water maker to work. It needed more tweaking than anticipated as some valves appeared stuck and he replaced a length of hose. Eventually, fresh water flowed into the tank! That should make life so much easier.

As the weekend approached, more boats arrived in the bay. One of them was the Coral Trekker built in 1939 and still in action. Quite an acrobatic job to furl those sails! The crew had fun swinging off the ropes and bombing into the sea. 

The wind was still gusty and the swells seemed to develop more at night. The next day we went ashore for a swim and snorkeled on the fringing reef. Most of the coral is dead but lots of colourful fish makes it interesting. We snorkeled alongside a large placid turtle in almost the exact same place as last year. Methinks this is a very obliging turtle - perhaps it is persuaded to stay in the area by tasty treats provided by the resort - or the glass bottomed tour boat that moves along the same short section all day. The following day was still gusty and we went on a hike to the summit and to the lighthouse on the other side of the island. Although we did the walk last year, the views are always breathtaking.

We swam off the side of the boat and I practised getting into the dinghy from deep water - not as easy as it sounds for an old duck. It provided some entertainment for Robert. I was mindful to ignore the three large shark-like fish that were living under our boat apparently nibbling off the algae growing on the underside. Well if they eat algae, they won't be interested in nibbling me. We later found out that the fish are remora, not sharks, but they do hang about with sharks.

I tried out the kayak - easy to paddle but not so easy to get into once out of depth.

The wind and swells picked up at nightfall again and it was a noisy bouncy night with the mooring buoy continuously bumping against the hulls as the boat swung around madly. Robert put an extra rope around the buoy to secure it tighter but the grinding ropes weren't much better. It's the captain's job to get up in the middle of the night and venture out on a dark wet rolling deck to re-set the mooring.

A particularly strong bullet of wind from the rear tore a part of the top canvas cover but we were able to stitch it back (sort of - sewing is not our forte). Robert's chores were not over yet - the spare battery did not function initially and required some tweaking. OK but not ideal. Everything else seemed to be working fine and we felt ready to set off.

Sunset over Cape Grafton from Fitzroy Island

Sadly our two hard drives of movies downloaded over months in Cape Town both died at the same time. How bizarre is that? A day later, my relatively new Nokia mobile phone died and could not be resuscitated which means some photos of Fitzroy are gone. Sigh.

After 6 days of bouncing at anchor at Fitzroy, we had enough and sailed to Trinity Inlet at Cairns to top up on provisions and see if my phone could be repaired. We anchored in almost the same spot as last year and recognised a few boats.

My phone is apparently beyond repair so after initially wanting to get a cheap replacement, we ended up with a more expensive Telstra Tough rugged phone with an external antenna. Should give us more range than our previous arrangement.

While anchored in Trinity Inlet we saw ex- neighbour Green Thomcat motoring past and anchor further out. Jim had his boat lifted out for anti-fouling and was clearing customs before departing to Papua New Guinea.

Goodbye Cairns - a really lovely city with friendly people. All in all, we've spent close to 2 months in Cairns and enjoyed the laidback lifestyle and scenic beauty.

We left Cairns on a calm, hot morning. Our destination was either Double Island only 16 nautical miles north or Low Isles about 40 miles north. The wind didn't pick up so we settled for motoring all the way to Double Island. At least the water maker had a chance to fill up both tanks and the batteries were fully charged by the time we anchored. Double Island is privately owned so we did not go ashore and stretched out on our cushions in the cockpit sipping G&T and trying to sort out transfer of WhatsApp contacts from one phone to another phone account. Where's the 12 year old techno whizz when you need one...

The next morning we found a dead flying fish on deck and decided to use it as bait in the hope of catching a bigger fish. 

Robert put out his fishing lines, one with the dead fish and we set off for Low Islet. There wasn't enough wind for the sails so Robert put out the spinnaker but even so we averaged only just over 3 knots and it took us 6 hours to reach Low Islet approximately 25 nautical miles in distance.

Low Islet is the cutest island I've seen. It's a tiny, round, green island with a nice sandy beach and fringe of palm trees. A red-topped lighthouse peeks above the trees in the middle of the island. It's a popular tourist spot and croc-free. The water was calm and a swim off the nearby beach was being contemplated.

The unfortunate dead fish had been trolled behind the boat for 6 hours and Robert hauled it up and fastened the line on deck leaving a bit of tail hanging in the water as it was oozing some fish gunk. We were suddenly surprised by thumping and thrashing sounds from the back of the boat and I saw a large shape twisting about halfway up the side. We rushed over and saw four sharks going mad in the water below. One of them must have jumped up for the dead fish and hooked itself and then got free. The fish was rather mangled so Robert tore it into chunks and threw the pieces down to the sharks who snatched up the bits. Amongst the four black-tipped reef sharks were the remora fish we saw under our boat off Fitzroy Island. The reef sharks continued to patrol past our boat for hours. I had changed my mind about swimming.

Later in the evening we were interested to see a very large coin-shaped batfish placidly swimming around the boat. The next morning the batfish was still swimming around us as well as an even bigger shark different to the reef sharks. Pegasos was moored in 5 to 6 metres. Goes to show that the sharks can also lurk in shallow water.

We set off at 7.00 am for East Hope Island about 42 nautical miles north. The weather forecast was some good wind and indeed we were soon sailing at about 6 to 7 knots. The Marine Reserve area around these parts has demarcated no fishing zones and just before Robert pulled in his lines for an approaching no fishing zone, he hooked a large mackerel. Yay! No tinned tuna tonight.

The wind and swells picked up and the sea became rougher but we were skimming along at close to 9 knots off Cape Tribulation. The swells got steeper after that and Pegasos dipped and peaked through the swells. We contemplated skipping out East Hope Island and heading on to Cooktown but it was just a little too far to make it before sunset so we crossed the shipping channel on steep breaking swells and headed on to Hope Island.

The wind was more than 20 knots and we had to pick our way slowly and carefully through the reefs around the island, quite an intense exercise. Happily we saw a mooring buoy and I managed to pick it up in 22 knot wind - getting better at this job. All in all, quite a strenuous 7 hour sail.

East Hope Island is another small pretty island with its own collection of reef sharks. The were delighted when Robert cleaned the mackerel for supper and tossed the scraps overboard.

The wind picked up in late afternoon to between 25 and 30 knots and did not stop all through the night and the next day. The forecast is the same strength wind for the next few days. It's too rough to even dinghy ashore. We decided to stay on the mooring buoy at East Hope Island until the wind drops a bit before heading to Cooktown.